LAKE WORTH AUDITOR SHOULD QUIT HIS JOB, COMMISSIONER SAYS

LAKE WORTH -- Internal Auditor Frank Casey has lost his effectiveness because of personality conflicts with department heads and should be asked to leave, City Commissioner Roy Strohacker said Tuesday.

And Strohacker said after a special study session that he will move to ask for Casey's resignation at the next official commission meeting Monday.

A dispute, as much over style as substance, has been smoldering for some time between Casey and some department heads. It resulted in a recommendation in the city's annual audit that better lines of communication be developed.

"It looks like personality problems. If that's what it is, then let's get them resolved and get on with other things," said Harry Harrell of Arthur Young International, the firm that did the annual audit.

The situation was particularly acute in relations between Casey and the city's Finance Department, Harrell said.

"It used to be that one of the functions of an internal auditor was to be hated," Commissioner Larry Langlais said, "but now you can't get by if you continue to have reluctance on the part of the people you deal with."

Langlais added that he has been dissatisfied for some time with his inability to get information from Casey, as well as with Casey's performance in general.

Strohacker said after Tuesday's meeting that he had no doubts of Casey's ability as an auditor, but felt relations between Casey and the rest of the city staff had deteriorated and might be unrepairable.

Acting City Manager John Sczymanski told commissioners that he did not think Casey, who works directly for the commission on an equal footing with the manager and city attorney, had been following proper procedures in making his reports to the commission.

"The day after I was appointed acting city manager, I asked the internal auditor to work with me to present items to us for discussion, but there has been no discussion with me or to me," Sczymanski said.

Sczymanski told commissioners that, rather than following procedures, Casey had sidestepped the city manager's office by setting up meetings with department heads -- who work for the manager -- without his knowledge.

Casey, however, said later that he had attempted to follow the procedures he had always followed, sending reports to Sczymanski and copies to the commission, even if Sczymanski said he had never seen them.

Strohacker said he had seen some of those memos, and took offense at what he called "those snide little footnotes written in at the bottom.

"If you expect cooperation with department heads and employees, it has to be approached in a professional manner," he said.

During his contract review late last year, then-Mayor David Hinsa charged Casey with interfering with his attempts to study the auditor's performance.

Casey, who lives in Hialeah, was hired in December 1985 as the city's first internal auditor. He had been a supervisor in the Dade County internal auditing department for 13 years before resigning earlier that year after an office dispute.